Job Challenges God by Suing: God Responds

After losing his health, wealth and children in inexplicable tragedies, the righteous and devout man Job questions God as to what he must have done to deserve such a heavy punishment. When he can think of nothing else, Job challenges God by suing God to provide evidence of his wrongdoing. Image: Alinari/Art Resource, NY.

Suing God. To most it would seem an absurd notion—but not to Job. After all, desperate times call for desperate measures.

Having been dealt such tremendous blows, Job and his companions can only assume that he has committed a grave sin to deserve such punishment, but Job can think of nothing he has done wrong. So, Job questions God about his transgression—why all these bad things have happened to him. Receiving no answer from the deity, Job finally decides that his only recourse is suing God.

As explained by Edward L. Greenstein in his article “When Job Sued God” in the May/June 2012 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, Job understood the ancient legal system well. He knows that he cannot call witnesses in a lawsuit against God. So, lacking witness, he swears an exculpatory oath, as was standard in such legal cases in the ancient Near East. He swears to his own innocence and lists numerous wrongs that he has not committed. In doing so, Job challenges God to provide the evidence against him and prove his guilt.

Finally, God responds. But in legal terms, he throws out Job’s case on a technicality. In his oath, Job claimed to know everything about God and how the universe works, so God reprimands him. Where was Job, questions God, when he laid the earth’s foundations? If Job is so wise, he must have been present at creation, God adds sarcastically.

Job has no reply. By suing God, Job gets an answer, even if it isn’t the one he wanted.

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For more about how Job questions God and ends up suing God to get a response, read Edward L. Greenstein’s article “When Job Sued God” in the May/June 2012 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review.

9 Responses

I have always felt that graduates, unable to find work in their fields should have the basis to sue the learning institutions for taking their money with the implied work-related reward. Isn’t this, after all, simple fraud? From Trump University to the big ivy leaguers, why take money from poor people with the implied promise of a successful career? There is too long a history of this sort of thing. And today many students have a lifelong debt paying for the student loans. Let’s end the loans and keep more from being victimized. Yes, some schools will shut down and some professors will be laid off.

Are people insane? Has everyone gone mad?! Listen to this;
“After losing his health, wealth and children in inexplicable tragedies, the righteous and devout man Job questions God as to what he must have done to deserve such a heavy punishment. When he can think of nothing else, Job challenges God by suing God to provide evidence of his wrongdoing.” This is a theory proposed by Edward L Greenstein, an ‘EDUCATED SCHOLAR!’

Hello?! And these are the people that are ‘educating our professors, educators, and teachers?’ Run to darkness they have! Job (Yob) makes no such claim in his writings, nor does he EVER attempt to ‘sue Yahweh Elohym.’ The ideology behind ‘suing’ is a Roman law, invented BY the Romans, and we find no earlier case of ‘suing someone’ prior to the Romans. The absurdity that is our educational system is pathetic. And this is what you want to bring your children up under? Sorry, but Yahweh Elohym gave me a Moral Conscience, and the Knowledge to raise my own children, and not pass them off to some uneducated, demoralized babysitters!!

Job had it pretty hard considering that he lost all his children ie: seven sons and three daughters including all livestock and servants and that’s not to mention his physical well being. Satan was definitely authorized by God to doing some serious damage which says a lot about the criminal acts of persecution. You want to be on your best behaviour by strictly obeying those perfect laws of liberation in the Bible. Whether you’re naughty or nice God will judge even though he’s not partial to anyone. 2Thess 1:3-10 & 1Pet 4:12-19 & 1Cor 4:9-13 all speak about God being fully responsible for persecuting his beloved children so that we can be worthy of his glorious kingdom. So next time Satan is doing something to ruin your life, MAYBE God authorized it. So be strong, stay strong and fight the good fight of faith because the Lord is our strength. Godbless.

Job believed in the resurrection:
It is painful to watch a loved one suffer and die. We naturally grieve such a loss. It is comforting to know, however, that our Creator, Jehovah God, understands our grief. More than that, he longs to use his almighty power to restore life to the dead. Notice the hope conveyed in the words of Job, recorded at Job 14:13-15.
Consider the setting. Job, a man of outstanding faith, undergoes severe trials—including the loss of his material possessions, the death of all his beloved children, and a painful illness. In the throes of misery, he calls out to God: “O that in Sheol [mankind’s common grave] you would conceal me!” (Verse 13) Job sees Sheol as a welcome relief. There, as if a treasure hidden by God, he will be free of hardship and pain.*
Will Sheol become Job’s permanent shelter? Job believes otherwise. He continues his prayer: “O that . . . you would set a time limit for me and remember me!” Job confidently hopes that his stay in Sheol will be temporary and that Jehovah will not forget him. Job likens the time that he will spend in Sheol to “compulsory service”—an enforced period of waiting. For how long? “Until my relief comes,” he says. (Verse 14) That relief will mean release from Sheol—in other words, a resurrection from the dead!
Why is Job convinced that his relief will come? Because he knows how our loving Creator feels about His faithful worshippers who have died. Says Job: “You will call, and I myself shall answer you. For the work of your hands you will have a yearning.” (Verse 15) Job acknowledges that he is the work of God’s hands. The Life-Giver who was responsible for Job’s formation in the womb can certainly restore him to life after he has died.—Job 10:8, 9; 31:15.
Read more in 701 languages here:http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1200273131

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9 Responses

I have always felt that graduates, unable to find work in their fields should have the basis to sue the learning institutions for taking their money with the implied work-related reward. Isn’t this, after all, simple fraud? From Trump University to the big ivy leaguers, why take money from poor people with the implied promise of a successful career? There is too long a history of this sort of thing. And today many students have a lifelong debt paying for the student loans. Let’s end the loans and keep more from being victimized. Yes, some schools will shut down and some professors will be laid off.

Are people insane? Has everyone gone mad?! Listen to this;
“After losing his health, wealth and children in inexplicable tragedies, the righteous and devout man Job questions God as to what he must have done to deserve such a heavy punishment. When he can think of nothing else, Job challenges God by suing God to provide evidence of his wrongdoing.” This is a theory proposed by Edward L Greenstein, an ‘EDUCATED SCHOLAR!’

Hello?! And these are the people that are ‘educating our professors, educators, and teachers?’ Run to darkness they have! Job (Yob) makes no such claim in his writings, nor does he EVER attempt to ‘sue Yahweh Elohym.’ The ideology behind ‘suing’ is a Roman law, invented BY the Romans, and we find no earlier case of ‘suing someone’ prior to the Romans. The absurdity that is our educational system is pathetic. And this is what you want to bring your children up under? Sorry, but Yahweh Elohym gave me a Moral Conscience, and the Knowledge to raise my own children, and not pass them off to some uneducated, demoralized babysitters!!

Job had it pretty hard considering that he lost all his children ie: seven sons and three daughters including all livestock and servants and that’s not to mention his physical well being. Satan was definitely authorized by God to doing some serious damage which says a lot about the criminal acts of persecution. You want to be on your best behaviour by strictly obeying those perfect laws of liberation in the Bible. Whether you’re naughty or nice God will judge even though he’s not partial to anyone. 2Thess 1:3-10 & 1Pet 4:12-19 & 1Cor 4:9-13 all speak about God being fully responsible for persecuting his beloved children so that we can be worthy of his glorious kingdom. So next time Satan is doing something to ruin your life, MAYBE God authorized it. So be strong, stay strong and fight the good fight of faith because the Lord is our strength. Godbless.

Job believed in the resurrection:
It is painful to watch a loved one suffer and die. We naturally grieve such a loss. It is comforting to know, however, that our Creator, Jehovah God, understands our grief. More than that, he longs to use his almighty power to restore life to the dead. Notice the hope conveyed in the words of Job, recorded at Job 14:13-15.
Consider the setting. Job, a man of outstanding faith, undergoes severe trials—including the loss of his material possessions, the death of all his beloved children, and a painful illness. In the throes of misery, he calls out to God: “O that in Sheol [mankind’s common grave] you would conceal me!” (Verse 13) Job sees Sheol as a welcome relief. There, as if a treasure hidden by God, he will be free of hardship and pain.*
Will Sheol become Job’s permanent shelter? Job believes otherwise. He continues his prayer: “O that . . . you would set a time limit for me and remember me!” Job confidently hopes that his stay in Sheol will be temporary and that Jehovah will not forget him. Job likens the time that he will spend in Sheol to “compulsory service”—an enforced period of waiting. For how long? “Until my relief comes,” he says. (Verse 14) That relief will mean release from Sheol—in other words, a resurrection from the dead!
Why is Job convinced that his relief will come? Because he knows how our loving Creator feels about His faithful worshippers who have died. Says Job: “You will call, and I myself shall answer you. For the work of your hands you will have a yearning.” (Verse 15) Job acknowledges that he is the work of God’s hands. The Life-Giver who was responsible for Job’s formation in the womb can certainly restore him to life after he has died.—Job 10:8, 9; 31:15.
Read more in 701 languages here:http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1200273131